Organizations operate a large amount of steering processes. The function of steering processes is to support the management of operational processes. To perform this function steering processes produce information. The information is used to support the decision making on operational processes. The information is based on implicit or explicit steering models which are developed by the organization in order to control the operational processes. Information systems are used in the steering processes to produce the information.
At this point of time various technologies or combinations of technologies are used to produce information.
1. On Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) Software
OLAP software is often used together with database technology. OLAP software is used to select (a part of) data collection. Furthermore the software is used to perform simple operations on the data display the results of the operations. OLAP software preprocesses and stores the processed data collection to ameliorate response time in case of data selection.
2. Relational on Line Analytical Processing (ROLAP) Software
ROLAP is often used in combination with database technology as well. This type of software basically has the same functionality as OLAP. It is used to select large amounts of data, perform simple operations and display the results. In case of ROLAP no preprocessing takes place. A query is formulated in Structured Query Language (SQL) or a SQL related language. The query is executed on the database.
3. Functional Software Packages
Functional software packages are used to run various large administrations such as financial administrations or employee/salary administrations. They offer reporting tools to define reports on the data which are available in the database.
4. Specialized Control Systems
This type of software supports specific steering processes on a specific area like logistics or inventory control. Often they can only be used by specific organizations or branches like process industry or transport.
5. Spreadsheet
Spreadsheet software is used to perform medium complex calculations. Spreadsheet software does not use database technology for data storage. Spreadsheet software offer various functions to display data.
The invention is a part of an application development environment. The development environment is intended to develop software applications which support the management of operational processes (see FIG. 1). The development environment consists of the following subsystems:
Organizations modeler
This module is used to define the operational processes and the organizational units that are involved.
Connection builder
The connection builder is used to define connections to collect data from other systems.
View builder
This module is used to define the views on the data.
Distributor
The distributor creates the end user application.
The last two modules of the development environment make up the invention:
Steering process modeler
Model builder
The invention is intended to define steering processes by naming the steering steps and store them in the database. Furthermore the invention is intended to construct and store steering models. Steering models can be constructed by configuring standard steering models. Finally the invention is intended to connect steering steps with steering models and store the connections in the database.
The invention is innovative because none of the described technologies offer ways:
to construct steering models in a predefined way by using configurable standard models
to define steering processes by naming the steps and link them to the steering models Because of this invention it is possible to develop applications that support steering processes much quicker and with less effort than nowadays.